TL;DR: Shao Yong (1011-1077), courtesy name Yaofu, posthumous title Kangjie, was the founder of the image-number school of the Song dynasty, heir to Li Zhicao and to the Chen Tuan lineage of learning. In the Huangji Jingshi he built a system of cycles, yuan, hui, yun and shi, to describe the movement of the cosmos and of history, taking the number 30 as the common multiplier. This system is a natural philosophy and a calendrical image-number scheme, not a tool for divining individual fates, and its numbers belong to the conventions of the book rather than to measured astronomical data.
Who was Shao Yong and why does he matter for the I Ching?
Shao Yong founded the Song dynasty school of image and number studies, a branch of principle studies, and was the author of the Huangji Jingshi, which discusses the movement of the cosmos and history through numbers. He lived from 1011 to 1077, courtesy name Yaofu, posthumous name Kangjie, his ancestors were from Fanyang, his father moved to Xingzhang and then Gongcheng; at the age of thirty he went to Henan, buried his parents by the Yi River and became a man of Henan. Kangjie is the posthumous name granted by the court after his death, which is why later generations call him Master Kangjie.
In Trần Trọng Kim's Confucianism, image and number studies originated with Chen Tuan, and were later built into a system by Shao Yong; Shao Yong received the transmission from Li Zhicao, within the school of Chen Tuan. The Song History records that his books include the Huangji Jingshi, the Guanwu neiwai pian, the Yütsiao wendui and the poetry collection Yichuan jirang ji[4]. The arrangement of this lineage of learning is the classification of a research work from the first half of the 20th century, used as a conceptual map rather than as a statement by Shao Yong himself.
The biography of Shao Yong in the Song History records that he was recommended for office several times but pleaded illness and did not accept a post, lived in Luoyang, named his house Anle Wo and called himself Master Anle; famous officials such as Fu Bi, Sima Guang and Lü Gongzhu respected him and visited him. He died in the tenth year of Xining (1077), aged 67, and in the Yuan You era was granted the posthumous name Kangjie[4]. This is historical material about the man, not about the correctness of the doctrine.
What are yuan, hui, yun and shi, and why are they all multiples of thirty?
Yuan, hui, yun and shi are the four levels of time in the Huangji Jingshi, in which one yuan comprises 12 hui, one hui 30 yun, one yun 12 shi, and one shi 30 years. This division takes the number 30 as a common multiple, and according to Trần Trọng Kim, Shao Yong compared one yuan to one year, while the twelve hui correspond to the twelve months.
The specific numbers as presented by Trần Trọng Kim: one yuan is 129,600 years, each hui 10,800 years, each yun 360 years, each shi 30 years; each yuan has 12 hui, 360 yun and 4,320 shi. Within one yuan there is a time of growth and a time of decline, counted from Zi to Si as growth, from Wu to Hai as decline.
Also according to that presentation, each hui stands in one of the twelve hexagrams: Fu governs the hui of Zi, Lin governs the hui of Chou, Tai governs the hui of Yin, Dazhuang governs the hui of Mao, Guai governs the hui of Chen, Qian governs the hui of Si, Gou governs the hui of Wu, Dun governs the hui of Wei, Pi governs the hui of Shen, Guan governs the hui of You, Bo governs the hui of Xu, Kun governs the hui of Hai. The pairing of hexagrams with hui is a convention of the book, not a calendrical datum that can be calculated from the position of the Sun.
| Time level | Number of lower-level units | Number of years | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shi | 30 years | 30 | Corresponds to one hour |
| Yun | 12 shi | 360 | Corresponds to one day |
| Hui | 30 yun | 10,800 | Corresponds to one month |
| Yuan | 12 hui | 129,600 | Corresponds to one year |
What does the Huangji Jingshi write about?
The Huangji Jingshi is Shao Yong's work of image and number studies, comprising the Guanwu chapters and the section that takes yun to order the world, that is, using the cycle of yun to record and discuss the affairs of the world. The Siku Quanshu edition preserves the original Chinese text, unpunctuated, and its content stretches from ancient legend to later dynasties[1].
The Guanwu chapter section in the Siku edition records events by the sexagenary cycle year by year, for example the successive years Jiazi, Yichou, Bingyin, Dingmao, Wuchen, Jisi recount events of the time of Tang Gaozong, Empress Wu and the succeeding emperors, with the names of officials and generals, the moving of the capital, the installation of the crown prince[1]. This is historical material about how the book records, not proof of the correctness of the image and number cycle.
Also in the Siku edition, the Guanwu chapter section recounts events of the Western Jin period, from the Jiazi year of Emperor Hui of Jin onward, recording rebellions, the deposition and installation of empresses and crown princes, the wars among the princes of the Jin house, and Li Xiong proclaiming himself king in Chengdu, Liu Yuan proclaiming himself king in Lishi[1]. This manner of recording shows that the section taking yun to order the world reads history as a continuous sexagenary sequence, not as a table of prophecy.
Why is this said to be image and number studies rather than personal divination?
Shao Yong's image and number studies is natural philosophy and calendrical image and number study, aimed at describing the movement of the cosmos and history, not at predicting the fate of individuals. Trần Trọng Kim places Shao Yong's image and number studies among the three branches of Song principle studies, alongside moral learning and mind learning, and states clearly that Shao Yong calculated according to the principle of the number 4, taking the sun as yuan, the moon as hui, the stars as yun, the gods as shi.
Trần Trọng Kim writes that Shao Yong calculated from the Jiachen year, the first year of King Yao, to the Jiwei year "the fifth year of King Mu of Zhou", recording clearly the times of rise, of fall, of order, of chaos, to serve as verification for his learning. That final marker does not match the text: the summary note of the Siku edition records that the book begins from the Jiachen year of Emperor Yao and runs to the Jiwei year, the sixth year of Xiande of the Later Zhou, that is 959, and juan 6 does indeed record events of the Jin and Tang periods[1]. This is how the book presents the purpose of the work, and verification by past history does not mean that the future can be predicted.
Was the Meihua Yishu written by Shao Yong?
The Meihua Yishu is a book of I Ching divination traditionally attached to Shao Yong's name, but modern scholarship does not regard it as a work written by him. The book presents methods of obtaining hexagrams by number, by object, by sound, by character, then discusses them by ti and yong, that is, dividing a hexagram into two parts to examine generation and overcoming[2].
The book has sections such as Observing the Plum Blossom Divination (觀梅占), Peony Divination (牡丹占), and sections of divination by specific matter: weather, human affairs, household, marriage, seeking wealth, travel, illness, litigation[2]. This is the convention of a lineage of I Ching divination books, not a statement by Shao Yong.
The appendix of the book records the biography of Shao Yong from the Song History, compiled by Toqto'a and colleagues in the Yuan era, recounting that he studied the He Tu, Luo Shu and the eight trigram diagrams under Li Zhicao, then pushed the Former Heaven doctrine of Fu Xi further[2]. This biographical detail is historical material about the lineage of transmission, not proof of the authorship of the Meihua Yishu.
What is the relationship between the Huangji Jingshi and the I Ching?
The Huangji Jingshi stands on the foundation of the I Ching, using hexagrams to mark the levels of time, rather than discussing each line for each matter. The book's use of hexagrams is to assign twelve hexagrams to the twelve hui, and to take the sexagenary cycle as the backbone for recording history[1].
According to Trần Trọng Kim's presentation, each hui stands in one hexagram, and the twelve hui follow the twelve hexagrams from Fu to Kun. This is a convention of the book, not a general rule that all I Ching schools follow.
Where do the schools disagree?
The books disagree on authorship, on the final marker of the historical section, and on the scope of application of the image and number system. On authorship, the Meihua Yishu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong, while modern scholarship does not regard that as proven. On the final marker, Trần Trọng Kim records the fifth year of King Mu of Zhou, while the summary note of the Siku edition records the sixth year of Xiande of the Later Zhou[1]; as for the birth and death years 1011 to 1077, these match the Song History, which records that he died in the tenth year of Xining, aged 67[4]. On the scope of application, there is a reading that treats yuan hui yun shi as a calendrical image and number framework, and another reading that turns it into a tool for discussing the fate of nations and people; this article follows the first reading, that is, reading according to the text and according to Trần Trọng Kim's classification.
Some modern readings attribute to the yuan hui yun shi cycle the ability to predict the fate of nations or eras, but there is not yet enough research to conclude, and the original text in the Siku edition only records past events by the sexagenary cycle[1].
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: how to read the Huangji Jingshi today?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the Huangji Jingshi should be read as a philosophical and calendrical image and number text, not as a table of predictions. This reading preserves the value of the book in that it poses questions about the rhythm of time, about the relationship between number and change, and about the place of human beings within a cycle larger than their own life.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: if you want to research it, you should compare three layers of text: the original Chinese text in the Siku edition, the classification of a research work such as Trần Trọng Kim's Confucianism, and the presentation of the lineage of I Ching divination books attached to Shao Yong's name. These three layers answer three different questions, and mixing them together easily leads to wrong conclusions about what the book actually says.
